Thanksgiving and the Holdays (MMSM)

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving.
I will admit that I have issues with Thanksgiving, in general. I understand the point of a day of giving thanks and being grateful for what we DO have, but I don't completely understand how over-stuffing ourselves with food is the best way to show that thanks. I enjoy the time we get to spend with our families and am grateful for the days off work. . .However, it is a holiday completely centered around a meal. That's the tradition in and of itself. Thanksgiving is a meal, plain and simple. I am glad that it's another holiday that all American can celebrate without infringing on another set of people's religious ideals, like Christmas does. This was evident on my car ride home from dinner with my family. I noticed every fast food joint, every grocery store, every package store was CLOSED for the rest of the day. On Christmas, you can still find a few open, because not everyone celebrates. Thanksgiving - everyone celebrates!! Well, everyone in America at least.

Now, we are full force into the Holiday Season and getting closer to my mom's Ball. I'm going to be moving at warp speed to get everything I NEED to get done and will try to work in what I want to do. It was a good thing I got my house (mostly) cleaned yesterday. It makes me feel so much better to wake up on clean sheets with a clean bathroom. I feel so much more productive in the mornings.

Ahhhhh - I'm rambling now!!

Staying on a positive note. . .How about some "Made Me Smile Monday" to start the work week out right!!

• These turtles had me ROLLING
• Top 100 funny one-liners
  
• Spacebook - Facebook in Space. Star Wars to be exact. Too funny!
  
• It made my day (IMMD) is an open post thing where people post what makes their day. It could be simple or something a bit more evil (I like the simple ones.)
• LOML has already informed me that this has been photoshopped. I DON'T care. I still think it's awesomely cute. Cute Overload has it entitled "The fool, he suspects nothing"

I will admit that though we had a very LONG holiday weekend, I got NOTHING crafty accomplished. I do want to get a Christmas necklace made for myself this week as I have a party on Saturday. The craft room, unlike the rest of the house, did not get cleaned. Hopefully I'll get to it because I have issues with crafting in a disaster area. Wish me luck!!
Happy Monday y'all!

Silent Auction Jewelry (TRT)

I've done it again. Done and gotten my head wrapped up in the world of vampires and werewolves in Forks. Dangit. I spent ALL of last week re-reading the four Twilight books. Not because of the new movie, but because I felt like it. Plain and Simple. While the images of teenage vampires are still swirling in my head, I'm trying to re-enter reality. Forgive me.

I did promise to share some pictures of the jewelry pieces I created for the silent auction a few weeks ago. Here goes: (there are two pictures of each - the first is the display of the whole set and the second is a close up of the main piece.)

It's "Totally Random Tuesday" as well:

• This is more organization than anything - 5 best recipe managers.
  
• How cool is this apron with conversions on the bottom - BUT I like the DIY idea better for this or any kind of info you often need while in the kitchen: conversions, substitutions, basic recipes, etc.
• Since I played the violin for over 5 years, I find this a bit interesting. Is this the future of violins? This one is cool.
  
• Yet another game- this one is scrabble like. Use letters before they disappear. Be warned, the letters you use also disappear. If you like word games, this is a good one.
  
• Famous last meal requests (as provided by Wikipedia). I find this interesting. I've often try to figure out what I would ask for as a last meal and am not really sure. What about you? What would you request?

How'd you like the jewelry??

I've Been Crafty Once Again (FGF)

Guess what!!
Crafty Hope (me) was actually CRAFTY this week!!
Now, I don't have any pictures to share. . .yet!
But, on Sunday I finished up some jewelry for a silent auction that's tomorrow. Three distinctly different 'sets'. One is a set of soldered earrings and a pendant necklace; one is a beaded set of earrings, bracelet, and necklace; and the last is a multi-strand chain and seed bead necklace. I'm pretty proud of all three.

In addition (YES - there's MORE!), the function at which these are being auctioned is a dance, with a theme. The theme is Bandstand (ranging from the 50's to the 80's; but we're leaning toward the 50's.) Since we take snacks for the dance, I decided to make some album bowls by melting them. I used both large and small albums for chip/cracker and dip containers. And, they turned out GREAT!

Yesterday was another crafty day for me. I made a brooch for my cardigan (that goes with the poodle skirt my mom made me) out of felt and buttons. It was so simple and is so fun! THEN after dinner with friends, I broke out the glue gun! I had decided that I needed some way to display my jewelry for the auction. So I found some netting, frames, and fabric samples at the thrift store. I glued in the netting, placed the fabric behind it, and slid the frame back into place. The earrings hang fine, I just need to find some small hooks now to get the necklaces and bracelet to hang. They're not the 'prettiest' things in the world - but I think they'll work!!

It's strange how much more like me I feel when I actually get to fit in some time to be creative!! Now to get through this dance and onto Sunday when I can RELAX!! Whew!

Read all the way to the bottom to find out more about this picture***

How about some "Feel Good Friday"

• What love means to a kid. Some of these are REALLY moving. I can't imagine what my answer would have been at some of their ages.
• Check out this papercraft castle. Seriously, it's a castle, made of PAPER!!
• What happens when a 71 year old ex-boxer defends his life, his wife, and his home. See for yourself. I love these stories of the unexpected victor - the David and Goliath-esqe tales.
• This is from May 2008, but how come it's the first time I've heard of this? In any case it's good news, a way to decompose plastic bags.

So that's it. Now go on, enjoy your Friday and the rest of the weekend. I'm sure as heck gonna try. I might even sneak in some more crafting if I'm lucky!!

***That picture up there was taken a few weeks ago at the beach. Those are just the bottoms of someone's shoes. LOML and I call this picture "The Beach of Lost Soles" :)
We think it's funny!!